Aerators are commonly used for maintaining landscaped ground surfaces including turf. The term “turf” refers to grass and other material which is specifically grown for sporting activities and is used, for example, to form golf course greens. Aerators on these types of surfaces have a coring head with tines that repeatedly penetrate the ground surface, forming a plurality of holes so that the ground surface is aerated, to improve growth of the grass or other material and enhance the condition of the surface for playing purposes.
Aerators may have flywheels that drive the upper ends of tine supports in a circular path, and the lower ends in a reciprocating motion of repeated penetrations into the ground. Link arms can pivot to compensate for forward motion of the machine. At each part of the cycle when the tines are withdrawn from the ground surface, the link arms may position the tines in a substantially vertical position for the next cycle of penetration into the ground. Tines are generally cylindrical, are hollow or solid, and produce holes by pulling up plugs or cylindrical cores of soil as the tines move by rotation of the flywheel.
The depth of penetration by the tines, or coring depth, may be controlled by the vertical position of the coring head on the aerator. For example, the coring head may be supported by stops on vertically oriented depth pins located on each side of the aerator frame. Depth adjustment may be achieved by stacking spacers on each stop, with the quantity or thickness of the spacers setting the coring depth. However, depth adjustment requires significant down time to arrange multiple spacers.
There is a need for an aerator with coring depth adjustment that is simple and easy to operate, that does not require significant down time, and that does not require arranging multiple spacers or other parts that must be relocated. Additionally, there is a need for an aerator with coring depth adjustment that can help remove tines that may become stuck in the ground.